'Person of Interest': 'Judgement' recap

A man is struck by a car in a parking lot, the driver callously pressing on without stopping - so begins this week's Person of Interest! Meanwhile, the machine has spat out another number - it's Samuel Gates, a no-nonsense judge who lives with his young son Sam Jr. and nanny Christina. We're told that Gates is "waging a one man war on crime"...

Monitoring the judge, Reese spots two goons following him. One ditches his phone in a trash can, but Reese retrieves it and reads the last text - School's out, moving in. "I think we've been following the wrong Sam Gates!" gasps our hero.

Sam Jr. returns home but is grabbed by goons, with Reese arriving too late to save him. Judge Gates receives a call from the kidnappers, who tell him to keep quiet if he wants to guarantee his son's safe return. Just then, Reese approaches, telling Gates: "Let's figure out how we get your son back."

They return to the Gates home and find that the nanny Christina is missing. From the kidnapper's disused cell phone, Finch begins to hack the cell company for more information, while Reese discovers Christina's body - she's been tortured and killed by the kidnappers.

At the cop precinct, Carter is still wary of her new partner Fusco. The shifty detective meets with Reese, who hands him a spent bullet from Christina's crime scene to run through ballistics. Meanwhile, Finch has traced calls from the kidnapper's phone to White St & Franklin Pl.

Arriving at the location, Reese fights with one of the kidnappers and the villain eventually takes a stumble down some stairs. Reese recognises his tattoos as the mark of a notorious East-European street gang - "Looks like they just opened up a new branch in New York," he muses.

Judge Gates claims to know nothing about the gang, but soon receives a call from the boss. The crook tells Gates to throw a case in court, warning him: "Angela Markham walks or your son dies."

Markham - an account exec at a tech company - was the driver in the hit-and-run we glimpsed at the beginning of the episode. But the incident was simply a drunken accident - what's her link to to the gang?

While Carter investigates Christina's murder, Fusco informs Reese that the ballistics report came back negative - the slug is not in the system. Fusco offers to help with Reese's investigation, but Reese coldly replies: "Keep me posted and keep Carter out of my way!"

Reese still has the gang member he bested - Leon - locked in his trunk and is depriving him of food and water. Leon swears that he has no idea where Sam Jr. is or what Markham's link to the gang is, since the crew operates in cells to avoid exposure.

Reese gets an address from Leon, where gang members pick up payments, but back in court, Markham's trial resumes, with Gates skewing proceedings heavily in her favor.

Finch has tapped Markham's phone and intercepts a call to her from the gang leader - "Our whole operation is in jeopardy before you had too many shots!" he barks, but she snaps back, "Once you get the charges dropped, I go back to work - business as usual!"

Reese breaks into the address that Leon gave him and takes out another thug. Inside the building, he is stunned to discover half a million in cash. "Finch - just found a way to make these guys hurt," he smirks.

"I guess we know why they didn't ask for money," quips Finch. The mysterious millionaire has been busy - he's learnt that Markham's tech firm makes banking software to spot money laundering. It seems that she's been helping the gang to cover up their crimes, using the the OneState Bank for their operation.

Finch goes undercover at OneState and learns that millions of dollars are being laundered - the gang is not just cleaning their own money but also handling cash for other criminal outfits.

Reese now has the second thug locked in his trunk too. He cuts Leon's bonds, promising to realize him if he can get the name of the gang boss from his fellow crew member. After a little while locked in the trunk together, the ploy works and Reese gets a name - Jarek Coska.

Meanwhile, Fusco assists Carter on her case - he's used CCTV footage to spot a man on Christina's street, moments after she was killed, suspiciously pulling off a pair of gloves. Running the suspect's plates, Fusco learns that his vehicle belongs to a company - Coldfield Holdings.

He informs Reese, who quickly realizes that Coldfield is the shell corporation being used for the money laundering at OneState. Finch discovers that Coldfield bought an address less than ten blocks from Gates's house just two days before Angela Markham's trial began...

Reese heads to the address, but there's no sign of Sam Jr. Back at the court house, Angela is found not guilty by the jury. Afterwards, Gates receives call from Koska, who tells him to come alone to pick up his son. But the gang leader plans to kill Gates and Sam Jr. - that's why the judge's number came up!

Gates heads to the meeting place, but Koska prepares to kill Sam Jr. in front of him. In the nick of time, Reese arrives - he's kidnapped Angela Markham and is holding her at gunpoint.

He reveals to Koska that all of his laundered money has been transferred to an off-shore account - if Gates and his son don't go free, the criminal gangs that Koska has been working for will all descend on him, demanding their money back...

Koska orders his goons to kill everyone, but Reese nails them all - because he's just that awesome. Koska is shot and wounded, while Gates and Sam Jr. escape unharmed.

Angela's fraudulent activities are exposed, and when Carter and Fusco arrive at the base of Coldfield Holdings, they discover her and the gang thugs gagged and bound, along with the half a million dollars that Reese discovered.

Sometime later, Gates happily kicks a ball around with his son in a local park. Reese pays him a final visit, and though the judge thanks Reese for his help, he warns him that when his operation is exposed, there will be nothing he can do to protect him...

Points of Interest• Another solid episode of Person of Interest - we get some nice development in Reese and Finch's relationship, plus there's a strong guest turn from David Costabile, who's been superb in everything from Breaking Bad to Damages to Flight of the Conchords.• That said, it's a shame that no more light is shed on the back-story of either Reese or Finch.• And frustratingly, there's no resolution to last week's intense cliffhanger - what happened between Reese and the rapist Benton?!• As a Fringe fan, it's decidedly odd to see Michael Cerveris (Koska) play a role so different to the emotionless Observer!• It was smart move to introduce a more likable side to Fusco this week. Up until now, the shady cop's been a somewhat tiresome character but we're willing to give him a chance to develop further.• This week's absurdly cool Reese moment - the winner is the part where he locks Leon in the trunk with the other gang member and sets the two thugs against each other. Reese can be bad-ass even without getting his hands dirty.